Monsignor William Lynn becomes first US priest convicted for abuse cover up

A Roman Catholic church official was convicted of child endangerment but
acquitted of conspiracy Friday in a landmark clergy-abuse trial, making him
the first US church official branded a felon for covering up abuse claims.

Monsignor William Lynn was convicted of covering up abuse by priestsPhoto: AP

12:50AM BST 23 Jun 2012

Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priests were being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.

Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

"Many in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia hierarchy had dirty hands," Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said. "They failed to realize that the church is its people."

Mr Williams said he did not have sufficient evidence last year to charge other officials, including Bevilacqua, who died in January at age 88.

Lynn had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced - conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted of only a single endangerment count, which carries a possible three and a half- to seven-year prison term.

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The jury could not reach a verdict for Lynn's co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, who was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1999.

Despite Lynn's acquittal on the conspiracy charge, the trial exposed how deeply involved the late cardinal was in dealing with accused priests.

Bevilacqua had the final say on what to do with priests accused of abuse, transferred many of them to new parishes and dressed down anyone who complained, according to testimony. He also ordered the shredding of a 1994 list that Lynn prepared, warning that the archdiocese had three diagnosed pedophiles, a dozen confirmed predators and another 20 possible abusers in its midst.

Church lawyers turned over a surviving copy of the list days after Bevilacqua died.

Lynn did not react when the verdict was read, or acknowledge the siblings and other friends and relatives who have accompanied him to court for much of the three-month trial. Several of them were weeping.

The judge revoked his bail and he was taken to jail, although his lawyers plan to ask on Monday that he be granted house arrest until sentencing. No date was set, but the judge scheduled an Aug. 13 presentencing hearing.

With the verdict, after 13 days of deliberations, jurors concluded that prosecutors failed to show that Lynn was part of a conspiracy to move predator priests around.

The jury, however, did find that Lynn endangered the victim of defrocked priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty before trial to a 1999 sexual assault.

Lynn had deemed Avery "guilty" of an earlier complaint on the 1994 list, and helped steer him into an inpatient treatment program run by the archdiocese. But Lynn knew that Avery later was sent to live in a northeast Philadelphia parish, where the altar boy was assaulted.

The victim alleges that he was also assaulted by another priest and his Catholic school teacher. They are expected to be tried later this year.

After the verdict, the archdiocese apologised to clergy-abuse victims and said the church was on a "journey of reform and renewal that requires honesty and hope."

"We are committed to providing support and assistance to parishioners as they and the church seek to more deeply understand sexual violence, and to create an environment that is safe and welcoming to all, including past victims," read the church's statement, which did not reference Lynn directly.

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, called the verdict "a watershed moment" in the priest sex-abuse crisis.

"Lynn was a smart, able manager who at any time could have called the police, warned parishes, or threatened to blow the whistle," Mr McKiernan said. "He was not a helpless good guy. The only helpless people in this ongoing catastrophe were the children, the many hundreds of boys and girls who were sodomized and terrorized by the men Lynn managed."

More than 500 Roman Catholic priests have been convicted of abuse charges across the US, according to his group's count. Lynn is the first church official to be convicted for his administrative actions.

Defence lawyers say Lynn alone tried to document the complaints, get priests into treatment and alert the cardinal to the growing crisis. Church documents show therapists had called one accused priest a ticking "time bomb" and "powder keg."

During the 10-week trial, more than a dozen adults testified about wrenching abuse they said they suffered at the hands of revered priests.